ORLANDO, Fla. – A team of competitors from the UCF College of Business Professional Selling Program (PSP) took the top four spots at the Florida International University Global Bilingual Sales Competition (GBSC) on Saturday, Feb. 24, in Miami. It was UCF’s first time competing in the event.

PSP students Elizabeth Drivas, Michelle Edwards, Jacob Samoranski and Alexandra White beat out students from universities across the country. Associate Instructor of Marketing Stefanie Mayfield Garcia coached the UCF team through simulated sales role plays and networking activities in both English and Spanish. Marketing Associate Instructor and PSP coordinator Dr. Bill Steiger said the students put in hours of work to earn their victory.

“The team practices about three times a week,” Steiger said, “and this is our first year competing in the event.”

The competition is open to national and international universities, and each team can have up to five students, one of whom must speak Spanish. Representatives from global organizations and FIU faculty members judged the competition.

The next challenge for the PSP is to defend their national title at the 2018 National Collegiate Sales Competition in April. The program swept the competition in 2017 to capture the national championship.

“We’ve been practicing for weeks,” Steiger said, “It’s the super bowl. It’s the one everybody wants to win.”

PHOTO: UCF GBSC competitors (from left to right) Jacob Samoranski, Elizabeth Drivas, Alexandra White, Michelle Edwards. (Rear) Associate Instructor of Marketing Stefanie Mayfield-Garcia, team coach.